Greatest PROG Man of the Year: Chris Thompson, President of Radiant and all-around incredible guy.
Greatest PROG Band of the Year: Glass Hammer for releasing not only its best album to date, BREAKING OF THE WORLD, but also releasing DOUBLE LIVE, an album so good it could’ve been an original (as in all new) release.
Greatest PROG EP of the Year: Big Big Train, WASSAIL. The perfect EP. Tasteful and satisfying, but still leaving us wanting more.
Greatest PROG Live Album of the Year: Galahad, SOLIDARITY. Few bands can record live as well as Galahad. Always the perfect show.
Greatest PROG Instrumental EP of the Year: The Fierce and the Dead, MAGNET. Matt and Co. simply are incapable of doing wrong. At least when it comes to music.
Greatest PROG Instrumental Album of the Year: Arcade Messiah II. He might call himself a muppet, but John Bassett is one of the most interesting musicians alive. Whether he’s writing music or lyrics, he’s pretty much at the top.
Big Big Train, ENGLISH BOY WONDERS (Giant Electric Pea, 1997; 2008)
14 Tracks on the re-released version, 2008. Interior/booklet art by Jim Trainer.
The interior art of English Boy Wonders. All interior art and design by Jim Trainer.
ENGLISH BOY WONDERS is, by far, the most “English” of all of Big Big Train’s albums. Articulate, intelligent, penetrating, and romantic, the album should properly be listened to under grey skies with fog clinging to the land, an iron-gated cemetery to one side and a beautiful pale-skinned, red-headed woman just out of reach on the other, with a slight bit of drizzle in 55-degree weather. The listener, of course, should be wearing tweed and fiddling with his pipe. Perhaps, he should also have a battered, leather copy of Wordsworth or Tennyson as well.
I exaggerate, but only slightly.
As explained at the EBW promotional site:
English Boy Wonders was originally recorded on a limited budget & released by GEP in a semi-complete state in 1997. It has been unavailable for many years. For the 2008 re-release, Big Big Train have returned to the original master tapes & have re-recorded much of the album. Additional sections of music have also been written to complete the album as it was once intended. A bonus track featuring Martin Orford has been included & the album has been completely remixed & remastered by Rob Aubrey.
English Boy Wonders tells the heart breaking story of a doomed relationship across its 80 minutes of music & words. The album is a unique blend of progressive rock & English pop featuring many of Big Big Train’s finest songs.
Never shy about his melancholic, autumnal imagination, Greg Spawton actively and openly wrote a heart-wrenching story about loss on this second Big Big Train album. And, not just loss. . . but desire, hope, longing, and unrequited love.
For those of us—and we are becoming immense in our numbers—who have come to fall in love with David Longdon’s voice (a voice I consider to be the single finest in the current era of rock), it’s difficult to hear BBT without him. And, yet, on EBW, it was so. No Longdon. Not yet. He’s not the only one missing. A quick look reveals, of course, no Manners. No D’Virgilio. No Gregory.
Holy schnikees, what is this thing I hold so delicately in my hands? How can it be so great as it is without those four distinctive personalities?
Well, at least Poole and Spawton are here. And, thank the Northern pantheon of gods, very much so. One can hear them and their brilliance in every note. Not only is EBW so very English, it is so very BBT. The complexity of the arrangements, the searing guitar, the swirling keyboards, the anxious drums, and Spawton’s heart rending lyrics. Yes, this is Big Big Train. With all BBT releases, Spawton and Poole never shy away from reflecting those they admire. There’s some mid-period Genesis here, but there is also quite a bit of atmospheric jazz, with keyboards and drums far more daring than Collins and Banks ever tried.
And, for the newer release, the unofficial member of the band, that Anglos-audiophilic genius Rob Aubrey lends his extraordinary skills to EBW.
While the entire album is excellent and a must own, the tracks that lodge themselves firmly in the soul and mind are “Albion Perfide,” “Out of It,” “Reaching for John Dowland” and “The Shipping Forecast.”
Mister Lazy he’s not. Photo borrowed from guitargonauts.info.
I’m not sure if I could exactly articulate my reasons as to why, but I’m not the least surprised that Dave Gregory’s birthday is two days away from the Autumnal Equinox. There’s a fullness and a force of the seasons not only in the calmness that radiates from Gregory’s humane qualities (he’s a true gentleman), but there’s also an intensity of life in all of his art.
Clearly, his music resides somewhere in that last joyous blast of summer love and freedom.
Regardless, happy birthday, Mr. Gregory. I know I speak for many upon many when I thank you for all you’ve given to the music world over the past four decades. Whether it’s pop, punk, new wave, rock, chamber, or prog, you give your absolute all.
The best way to celebrate such a feast? Listen and watch away!
And best of all, a brilliant interview with Dave. Well worth watching it all.
Greg Spawton needs no introduction to this audience. He is one of the founders of Big Big Train, its bass player, and, now, one of its two main songwriters and leaders in the band. He is also, not surprisingly, a true renaissance man, interested in everything imaginable and not just large railroad cars! He reads, he travels, he explores. He’s also quite “normal.” He’s a father as well as a husband. He’s, frankly, an all-around great guy.
As most of you probably also know, the five original editors founded progarchy initially as an unofficial Big Big Train fan website. Though we have grown to analyze all music, we will never forget our original purpose. And, thank the good Lord that BBT continues to earn such love and admiration.
The set (missing a few EPs).
*****
Progarchy: Greg, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us. It’s always a pleasure. What was it like working in Peter Gabriel’s studio? Did it feel like it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience? Was it a learning experience, or was it really just recording in a large studio, bigger than your normal one?
Spawton: Real World is a unique environment: historic mill buildings converted to cutting-edge recording rooms and facilities set in a beautiful rural location. The studio is fully residential so you eat and sleep on site. The sound engineers are extremely talented and knowledgeable and all of the staff are friendly people who do all they can to make the time that musicians have on site productive and enjoyable. We have spent two weeks there now on two separate occasions and will be recording there again in November so it has become one of our main bases.
Progarchy: Since we last talked, Greg, you’ve added two new members to the BBT lineup? Can you tell us a bit about each and what they’ve brought to the band?
Spawton: Rachel and Rikard have proven to be superb recruits to the band. Initially, they were brought in to help realise the songs in the live environment, with Rachel providing string parts and Rikard guitar and keyboard. However, both are intensely musical individuals and they have added a huge amount to our musical firepower. They are also both lovely people. At this stage in my life, I don’t want to waste any time working with people I don’t get on with, or who are not on our wavelength. The fit with Rachel and Rikard is perfect.
Add Rachel and Rickard (and Rob Aubrey) and you have BBT.
Progarchy: Nice. Can you give us a run down on upcoming BBT projects—any details about content and release dates?
Spawton: There are quite a few things in the pipeline. First to be released should be STONE AND STEEL which will be a DVD / Blu-Ray featuring in-studio live performances from 2014 plus some documentary footage of the band evolving from the studio to the stage. We also hope to include some footage from our recent gigs. The aim is for a November release.
We have a new album which we are working on at the moment. This is called FOLKLORE and will feature up to an hour of new music. It will be released in early June 2016.
Alongside FOLKLORE, we are working on STATION MASTERS which is a three CD release which will serve as an overview of the band’s music up to FOLKLORE. All of the older songs featured (songs from before David became lead singer in 2009) will be re-recorded with the new line-up. This is planned for Spring 2017 and will be released at the time of our next live shows.
Progarchy: Phew. Amazing. Well, that’s a cornucopia for all Passengers! About 2 years ago, in an interview with PROGRESSION [no. 65] magazine, you’d mentioned BBT would release a concept album. Is this the same as FOLKLORE? Or, was that a different project altogether?
Spawton: It is a separate release which will be a double concept album. Much of the music is written for this and some of it has already been recorded. However, it is a big project and we knew we wouldn’t get it finished in the next year, so we decided to write a separate set of songs for FOLKLORE as we wanted to release an album in 2016. We aim to have the double album out in 2017 or 2018.
The Green Man sees all.
Progarchy: One of the things that so permeates WASSAIL—all four songs—is the deep layering of mythologies and symbols. From the Judeo-Christian to the Anglo-Saxon mythology of apples, for example, on WASSAIL. Do you intentionally set out to do this, or does this come naturally to BBT?
Spawton: It just happens, really. Themes emerge through conversation between me and David or through our own research. We are both quite ‘bookish’ when it comes to writing lyrics. We like to write about something.
Progarchy: A follow up to the previous question. Where do you see yourself in the current music scene? Would you label yourselves as anything in particular or just as prog rock or rock, broadly defined? A recent issue of PROG, of course, called you folk-prog.
Spawton: They can call us what they like as long as they are listening. We are always very happy to be defined as a prog rock band. Progressive music draws from so many different sources and enables bands to cover so much musical territory. We don’t find the label, or the genre itself, restrictive in any way. A lot of people call us pastoral and there is certainly a folk influence in some of what we do, but we listen and absorb influences from many different types of music. Anything we enjoy, really.
Progarchy: Again, another follow-up, if you don’t mind. It’s possible that the most powerful moment in all of your music is the reading by John Betjeman and the honor you give it and him. Would you do something like this again, and, if so, with what figure(s)?
Spawton: The inclusion of Betjeman’s voice was suggested by Andy Tillison [The Tangent, as almost every one of you knows—ed.]. When I heard it I just thought: ‘of course.’ Subsequently, I have been in touch with the historian Michael Wood and we have discussed using his voice in a spoken word moment. Michael Wood is a very well known English historian and has been a big influence on me. I would like to feature his voice at some stage.
Progarchy: A lot has happened to you this past month. What were your impressions of offering the three shows in London? In personal correspondence many years back now, you’d mentioned to me that you thought the last time you toured, it was a bit unpleasant. My word, not yours, Greg. But, I think I’m close in describing what you wrote to me. Were these three August shows redemption?
Rust never sleeps. It remains alive in song.
Spawton: The last gig played by Big Big Train prior to the shows this year was back in the late 1990’s and didn’t go well. It was at a festival in the Netherlands and we faced lots of technical problems. Our music didn’t fit the festival very well either, so it wasn’t a good experience. However, I don’t connect that in any way to our recent live experiences. Different era, different line-up. If there is any sense of redemption it is more in the overall trajectory of the band. We have turned things around in the last few years. Some of that is through sheer bloody-mindedness, mostly it is because we now have the right line-up for the band’s songs which has taken the music to another level.
Progarchy: During the tour, what moments worked best? Were there any moments in which you thought, “Ok, this is exactly why we wrote or recorded this.” When I lecture, for example, things I’ve always believed become somehow more real or tangible as I state them and place those ideas between me and my students. Did something similar happen with playing the music for you in London?
Spawton: Yes, I know exactly what you mean. There were many moments like that, where things felt fully realised. A few things spring to mind, for example the early instrumental sections in THE UNDERFALL YARD where things really groove now and it takes on a sort of fusion feel and WASSAIL, which is such a fun song to play as an ensemble. One particular bit at one of the gigs sticks in my mind, which was during the faster section in “East Coast Racer” starting with the electric piano solo and ending with the ‘she flies’ moment. I remember looking up at the screen which was showing some film footage and then looking up at the brass band who were in full flow and then seeing a guy in the balcony standing up and extending his arms out as if they were wings and I thought ‘we’re really flying here.’
Progarchy: A personal question, Greg, if you don’t mind. Chris Squire (RIP) just passed away. As a bass player, was he much of an influence on you?
Spawton: Chris Squire developed a particular way of playing which gave him a strong signature. Sometimes, when I become aware that I may be straying onto his territory, I step back. His was an exceptional talent and it is hard to believe he won’t be seen on a stage again.
Progarchy: Beautifully put. And, a fine tribute. On another topic, you’re an avid reader. What are you reading now? History? Fiction? Anything you’ve read recently that really struck you as meaningful?
Spawton: Mainly history at the moment. I have been reading a few books about the dawn of civilisation in recent weeks, back to the Sumerians. Ancient Worlds by Richard Miles is very good. I am trying to follow things through from there and get a good broad grasp of the timelines. Right now I am reading a book by Tom Holland on the Persian / Greek conflict, the original clash between East and West. In the next week or so I need to start some research into the stories I am writing about on FOLKLORE, so there will be some different books coming down from the shelves.
Progarchy: What music are you listening to at the moment?
Spawton: Elbow released a nice EP a couple of weeks ago. And I am still listening to the recent Mew album. The best new thing I have heard recently was by Sweet Billy Pilgrim. I suspect I will be getting all of their albums. I do have some cool gigs coming up. I am seeing King Crimson with David. I also have tickets for PFM, The Unthanks and an acoustic show by Mew.
Progarchy: Thank you so much, Greg. Not to embarrass you too much, but every progarchist is a huge fan of your work. We’re proud not only to know you, but to see the excellence you continue to pursue. Congratulations on all of your recent successes. All well deserved.
[Earlier this year, Professor Geoff Parks very kindly asked me to contribute to the BBT Concert Book, introducing and celebrating the band live for three dates this past weekend. As any progressive rock lover knows, this happened and, surprising to no one except the members of the band, BBT performed with absolute and utter brilliance. From my perspective, praise of BBT is praise of integrity itself. Below is what appeared in the concert program. I am deeply honored to have been a part of this event, even if armed only with a keyboard and separated by 3,500 miles–Brad]
Over time, most bands fade, while some others merely linger. A few, however, grow, evolve, develop, broaden, deepen, and reach. Toward what? Toward excellence, toward true community, toward art, toward creativity, and toward beauty.
Big Big Train is such a band. More importantly, it is an artistic community, in and of itself.
Founded in the early 1990s when progressive rock had become not just “weird” but almost anathema for most folks, Big Big Train stood for something solid and good even when the footing was unsure. Writing dramatic and cinematic pieces—complete with false starts and re-dos and some clumsy grasps (one album from 2002 is even a four-letter word)—Greg Spawton and Andy Poole pursued their dreams of making their own music. Though they correctly offered pieties to the past of Genesis and Yes, they wanted to be their own touchstone.
Then, something happened. Gathering Speed. At once an homage to the brave who defended the motherland against the rapacious fascists of central Europe, Gathering Speed proved to offer a distinctive sound, a “Big Big Train” sound. Drama, time shifts, jarring passages becoming melodic and melodic becoming ethereal, and truly fine lyric writing made this album a gem.
Then, something happened. Again. The Difference Machine. Astonishingly, even better than Gathering Speed, The Difference Machine told the haunting story of the stars and the souls, and the souls and the stars. At what point do the two become one? Chaos, order, sacrifice, dreams, death, loss. Everything that matters in life (and death) is here, in every lyric and every note.
Then, something happened. Again. The Underfall Yard. Oh, the majesty of that new voice, that voice that so perfectly captures Spawton’s and Poole’s music. That voice doesn’t just define the sound that the two remaining founders of the band had so long pursued, it gives it harmony in a perfect, Platonic sense. The listener begins the album, lulled by that voice. Toward the middle, we don’t know if we’re in Hell, Purgatory, or Holy Mass. By the end of the album, we care desperately that an electrical storm has moved out to sea.
Then, something happened. Again and again and again. English Electric One, English Electric Two, English Electric Full Power. A two cd set with a glorious booklet. And, now, we see what Spawton and Poole had seen for twenty-three years: an idyllic English landscape, marred by human error and the will to destroy. But, also leavened with the will to love, to discover, and to create. English Electric, despite the power implied, is the delicate holding of a soul, a soul that can choose the good or the ill, the true or the terrifying, and the beautiful or the horrific.
And, now, a toast of Wassail to three live dates in London, 2015. There, in the heart of English liberty, the heart of English commerce, and the heart of English dignity. For there, behind wind-swept pioneers, Spitfires, divers and architects, station masters, fallen kings, intriguing uncles, decrepit athletes, shipping manifests, curators, and loyal dogs, lies . . . something.
There, just behind the hedgerow. If you look and listen with attention and care, you’ll find the keepers of all things good, true, and beautiful. They call themselves Big Big Train.
To echo John, “Wow” is a pretty good way of summing it up. “Stunning” and “special” would also do. There are countless superlatives that could be substituted here.
I was thinking a lot about last night’s gig as I travelled north on the train this morning and I’ll share a few of those thoughts here. There’ll be no spoilers, and I’ll not be writing an actual review myself – I’m sure John and other Progarchists will be doing that more thoroughly and eloquently than I could.
The first thing that strikes me is how unusual it is for a well-established band, with such a body of work behind them, to have never before performed as a live act. That’s part of what made yesterday evening so magical to me, aside from the obvious special qualities of the music itself.
Second observation: debutantes could be forgiven some hesitancy or nervousness, and we might not expect them to sound as tight as a more seasoned unit. Yet there was none of that here. The thrill of seeing this music performed in a concert venue for the very first time was greatly amplified by the confidence and assurance of the performers. It simply felt like they’d been doing this as a band for years. (If only they had been…)
Third (slightly shamefaced) observation: I’ll confess to some doubts before last night. I worried about how well that amazing album sound, rich, multilayered and impeccably recorded, would translate to the live setting. Surely some of its depth and subtlety would be lost in the process? Well on that score I’m happy to have been conclusively proven a complete idiot!
These players have taken that advice to “run hard as you like” to heart. Moments that were powerful and energetic on record seemed to take on new power, greater energy. Yet none of the delicacy was lost – a testament to their skill as musicians.
Big Big Train have emerged from the chrysalis, and the splendour of their new form is dazzling.
So proud to have two progarchists as a part of this. Lady Alison and yours truly–BB
Program by Professor Geoff Parks.
From Professor Geoff Parks: At last I can reveal a closely kept secret. A while back I volunteered to put together a programme for the band’s upcoming Kings Place concerts. To my delight that offer was accepted and early in June I sent my efforts on to Greg et al. for approval.
The programme is 24 A4 pages in full colour. It includes profiles of the members of BBT and their support staff, equipment lists and a number of articles that should be of interest to passengers, including a couple of specially commissioned pieces by Alison Henderson and Bradley Joseph Francis Birzer of this parish.
The programme will cost a very reasonable £5.
The section containing the band profiles has been cunningly designed to include convenient spaces for the collection of autographs.
Here’s a quick round-up of news ahead of the BBT London shows next month:
* Wassail (the song) has been nominated in the Anthem category of the 2015 Progressive Music Awards. Listeners can vote for their favourites here: http://awards.prog.teamrock.com/
* Wassail (the EP) has been flying high in Amazon’s folk(!) charts for over a month. The CD version of the EP is available at Burning Shed: http://www.burningshed.com/store/progressive/collection/506/ and the download and streaming versions are available from the usual sources.
* An interview with David and Greg appears in the July issue of Prog magazine which is on sale now.
* David performed Spectral Mornings with Magenta at two gigs in June.
* For those coming to the BBT gigs at Kings Place, London, next month, please be aware of the gig timings:
Fri 14th & Sat 15th Aug:
Band on stage: 7.30pm
Finish: 10.25pm
Sun 16th Aug:
Band on stage: 2.00pm
Finish: 5.00pm
* The “Stone & Steel” DVD, featuring “live in the the studio” performances recorded last year at Real World Studios, is due for release in time for Christmas this year.
* After the gigs in August, we will be returning to the studio to finish work on the next album which will be called “Folklore” and is due for release early in 2016.
Best wishes
Andy, Danny, Dave, David, Greg, Nick, Rachel and Rikard
Progarchy 